How Do You Feel When You Wake Up Each Morning?

“Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain… To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices – today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it.”  Kevyn Aucoin

“I wake up every morning with a great desire to live joyfully.”  Ann Howard Shaw

How do you feel when you wake up each morning?

Are you happy, sad, hopeful, apprehensive, pensive, rested, tired, or ready to go?

Do you feel sunny? Would you smile when the Beatles sing ‘Here Comes the Sun’?

“Here comes the sun (do do do do) / Here comes the sun, and I say / It’s all right (da dun dun…) / Little darling / It’s been a long cold lonely winter / Little darling / It feels like years since it’s been here / Here comes the sun (do do do do) / Sun, sun, sun, here it comes…”

When you are living with Parkinson’s,

I start each day with a physical inventory:

I feel every muscle fiber, every ounce of cartilage and ligament;

I flex, rotate, and move every possible joint;

I patrol for lingering stiffness, and I do my initial stretch.

Then I get out of bed, my morning inventory completed.

What do you think about as you wake up each morning?

Are you ready to seize the world, catch up with work, plan a trip, worry about life coming at you, and be hopeful for the new day?

Are you still dreaming?  Would you smile if you heard Led Zeppelin singing ‘What Is And What Should Never Be’?

“So if you wake up with the sunrise, and all your dreams are still as new, / And happiness is what you need so bad, girl, the answer lies with you.”

When you are living with Parkinson’s,

Sure, it sucks to have a chronic neurodegenerative disorder, it moves both subtly and stealthily.

Importantly, my life is not measured by days remaining; my life is being measured and lived by years remaining.

I start each day with a simple plan: ‘This will be a good day.’ I remain hopeful, not hopeless, positive, not negative, happy, not sad, driven, not complacent, and educated, not naïve.

How do you feel when you wake up each morning?

What do you think about as you wake up each morning?

When you are living with Parkinson’s, well, I really do start each day essentially like you.

However, my life experiences and expectations are now viewed through a different kind of lens.

Like you, I will have good days and not-so-good days.

Like you, I will love and cherish my friends and family.

Like you, I will smile when the sun’s out and frown when it storms.

At the start of each morning:

I am trying hard to live life well and authentically,

I am trying hard to stay hopeful and healthy,

I am trying hard to stay positive, and

I am trying hard to keep focused on what matters the most,

I am still here, and you’re still here.